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Let's Get
Started!
The first step is to
decide on a domain name for your website.
Once you decide this, you'll need to check and
see if the name is available. I prefer
www.000domains.com. If the domain name you
chose is available,
purchase the name. This usually costs
about $13.50 and is renewable once each year.
Next, you'll need
some place to store your web pages so you can
show the world your "place". This is done
through a hosting service. I suggest
Productivity Solutions. Hosting costs $99/year
and up depending on your needs.
Services with the $99 plan include: 100mb,
5 Gig data transfer, CGI scripts, ASP
connectivity and more.
Once you purchase your site domain name and
obtain a host, you'll need to set the
nameservers in the control panel of your domain
account. Your host will send you
instructions on how to do this. I can
assist you with all of these steps if you have
any questions or problems.
Now you're ready
to start "building" your website. The best
way to do this is make a "workbook" by hand and
number your pages. Most sites will
have a HOME page, CONTACT page and ABOUT ME or
ABOUT OUR COMPANY page. Start with these
pages and jot down what info you want on each
page. It helps to surf the net and see if
you see other websites with similar
functionality and/or design you have in mind.
If you see something you like, jot down the URL
in your workbook or bookmark using your browser
for later reference.
Now you're ready
for the "meat" of your site. Is this an
e-commerce site? If so, you'll first need
to obtain a merchant account and a gateway.
The first place to begin is talking with your
local bank to see if they offer this service.
Many do and will work with you to put together a
custom package to fit your needs. If you
cannot obtain this at your local bank, you can
then contact a service online to help you set up
an account. A few that offer both merchant
accounts and payment gateways that will
integrate with the Mal's Shopping Cart I use for
clients. Here are a few of the more
popular services:
If your site will
be an e-commerce site, you'll need to decide
approximately how many products you plan to
offer for sale online. You'll probably add
more in the future but you'll need a starting
point for both you and your webmaster. If
you'll have more than 10 I would suggest
breaking them up into categories. Jot
these down in your "workbook".
Once you have
these tasks finished you'll just need to decide
on a color scheme for your website.
Do you have a
logo? If not, I can create one for you.
So how much will
all of this cost you? That depends on so
many different factors there is no way to give a
quote without having all this information in
place first. To give you a very rough
idea, let's use this example:
- You have 10
items for sale
- You already
purchased your domain name and set up a
merchant acct and payment gateway Bank of
America.
- You hire me
to build your e-commerce site with 10 items
to sell.
The
approximate cost would be:
$120.00 hosting (per year - recurring)
$300.00 to set up shopping cart
$250.00 Shopping Cart software - this cost varies
according to what features you need.
$400.00 Design Logo
$600.00 Design Site consisting of 5 pages
(including catalog ordering page with up to 20). You
take the photos of products and send me the raw
images to make web ready.
$500.00 Photo work - this all depends on the
photos and how much is needed to make them
online ready.
$2170.00 total
Any amount of products over 20 to be added to
the shopping cart and/or customizations are
normally $20/hr.
All extras:
Animated graphics, custom graphics and
scripts are quoted per project. The above
example does not include custom graphics other
than logo and no scripts or databases.
If your desire is to
build an information only website the costs will
be much less than an e-commerce site. I
can install a Blog site for you or even a
message board. Whatever your needs, we'll
work together to make it happen!
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Costs for maintaining website and/or adding
pages:
$20/hr for all updating - billed per project
or monthly
Add one page to existing site: $70 for
text and 2-3 images. If this is a shopping
cart page, other fees will be due for adding
cart items.
I hope this helps
you in your website preparation. I'll be
happy to visit with you about the details at any
time. Just
email anytime or call 10am to 4pm CST -
316-775-1513. Ask for Jackie.
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